This write up is not meant to be an an
in depth test report, but a look at significant features and settings by
a nature photographer using the 7D in the field with some indoor chart
testing. Most of the Internet test reports have limited information
on small in the frame autofocus performance so I have covered this in some
detail. For an in depth look at noise, resolution and dynamic range check
out: DPReview 7D
My own tests of the technical parameters indicate similar values to the
DPReview results so I will only include a brief summary of these aspects.

Noise

Chroma and Luminance noise are
better than the 50D overall. The 7D has close to a 1\3
stop advantage at low ISOs and 1 a stop advantage at the higher ISOs. Remember
though the 7D has 20% more pixels than a 50D and some of this resolution
can be traded for noise reduction with software. All in all I am happy
with the noise performance. We are close to the physical limit of what
can be done with a 1.6 sensor in terms of noise. If you need lower noise
get a full frame large pixel sensor!

Dynamic range

Slightly higher than the the 50D,
probably no more than 1\3 stop. Use ISO 160 - 200 rather than 100 for
maximum dynamic range.

Resolution

Slightly higher than the 50D,
the lens is becoming more of a factor than ever in setting the upper limit
on resolution. I would not purchase this camera solely for the resolution
increase (18 mp vs 15 mp) but every little bit helps if you have to crop
images. Resolution
comparison

Raw Conversion

For now I am using DPP to convert
the RAW images to TIF as Canon has not updated the software development kit that Breezebrowser uses to convert 7D files.
Adobe Lightroom III beta also produces decent
results and I understand the CS4 plugin has been updated. The 7D does produce
some pattern artifacts in clean backgrounds and some RAW converters
may be better at dealing with them than others but so far after completely
processing the image including final sharpening I see little difference
in the end result with different RAW converters.

Update Oct 2010: I now use Breezebrowser for my raw Conversion for most images as the workflow
is very fast. I find for hi ISO images (ISO 800 and up) that the Adobe Camera Raw converter found in Light Room 3
and CS5 does a better job of reducing noise and maintaining detail than Breezebrowser or DPP.

Autofocus

Canon prosumer DSLRs have been
handicapped over the last several years with mediocre autofocus systems.
Back in 1998 the EOS 3 film camera I was using had the 45 point AF system
and moving to the seven point AF system of the digital 10D with it's
much more primitive AF system was a step backward. Subsequent cameras 20D,
30D, 40D and 50D all had some small improvements to the AF system but none
that seemed to make a significant difference with birds in flight.
The 9 point AF systems had the points to far apart to make using all points
focus useful and the acquisition and tracking with all points was slow
and unpredictable so I quickly abandoned its use. The 1D series of cameras
have the 45 point AF system but are expensive and heavy and the problems
with the 1D MKIII AF system are still being debated. Finally Canon has
made a major change to the AF system in a prosumer camera with the 7D.
The 19 point system with the ability to configure all aspects of the focusing
system looked like a major change, no doubt due to competition from Nikon.

When I received the 7D I was adamant
that if the AF system did not show real world improvement I would return
it to the vendor! Towards this end I read the AF portion of the manual
thoroughly, and set about testing the performance against my 50D.

Low light Auto focus capability

I have been happy with the low
light autofocus capability of Canon DSLRs in general, often they will focus
when I have trouble seeing the object! To test this I autofocus on a low
contrast object in a dimly lit room using one shot focus mode and center
point AF sensor. I find an object that the camera has some some difficulty
locking focus on and then repeatedly switched back and forth from the 7D
to the 50D using the same lens to see which camera is better able to acquire
a focus lock. I could find no consistent difference between the two cameras.
This is to be as expected as both cameras have AF systems rated at -.5
EV. The 10D and 20D would not focus at all on the same target.
I used my 100m f2.8 macro lens for this test but found the 18-55mm f5.6
(at 55mm) also would lock focus consistently on the same target with the
7D or 50D. No AF assist beam was used for this test.

AF tracking (birds against a blue
sky)

Shooting Gulls on Lake Ontario
and switching back and forth between the 50D and 7D with the same lens
produced a significantly higher yield of in focus keepers with the 7D.
The 7D was set to use the center point plus 4 expansion points. This
effectively makes for a much larger AF area and keeping the AF area on
the subject is therefore easier than with a small AF point.

AF tracking (birds against a tree
line background)

This is the real challenge for
an AF system, which has no reliable way of knowing whether you want the
bird or trees in focus. I found that the 7D tended to ignore the trees
much better than the 50D once AF had locked on the bird. It was easier
to drift off the bird with the 50D and focus the trees, the 7D with 4 expansion
points about center maintained focus more consistently. It was not infallible
but my percentage of keepers was much better than with the 50D. The key
is to acquire focus with the center AF point by taping the AF activation
(shutter release or AF start) first until the subject is in focus.

AF spot Auto Focus

This allows you to reduce the
size of the autofocus point for more precise focusing. For shooting through
branches or locking on tiny subjects, this may well be useful though I
could see little difference in testing informally. Be aware that the AF
point whether spot or not is always bigger than is indicated by the AF
target outline in the viewfinder. For AF to work well you need to try to
fill the complete AF target area with the subject. I was surprised
to find that the 7D would still focus the low light target using the center
point with "Spot AF". The time to acquire focus with the Spot AF
may have been a little slower.

Accessing the AF point or group of points

CF IV -1 allows you to set the
Multi-controller to select any one of nineteen AF points or to move a group
of points. On the 40 and 50 D it was difficult to reliably select the diagonal
points but the 7D Multi- controller is excellent in this regard.

So what about the CFIII AF settings?

For now I am using the defaults.
The effect of these is difficult to test and will require considerable
time. I was happy with my results using the defaults to date.

I recommend the center point with four
expansion points for general use, and single point if more precision is
needed. Canon has stated that any one point of the nineteen is as fast
and precise as any other point, this is new as the center point was favored
in the past. Selecting points with the multi function controller is fast
and easy.

I would seldom think of using the "ring
of fire" (all 19 points active) for Auto focus as there is more chance
of one of AF points finding something other than the subject, however it
did seem to work fine for Herons flying in clear sky and may be useful
for flock shots against a clear sky.

Hit the INFO button twice when
not previewing an image and the leveling graphic appears on
the rear LCD screen. This allows you to level the camera in the horizontal
and/or vertical dimension. This is useful for getting the horizon level
when shooting landscape and particularly when stitching images together
to make a panorama. In the past I would use a hot shoe mounted bubble level
for this function which was easily misplaced.For this to work the INFO button menu
must have "Electronic level" ticked.

Pushing the M-Fn button will allow you
see the leveling function in the viewfinder which uses the AF points to
indicate level. This can be useful when laying on your belly shooting ducks
where it is difficult to judge level easily.

Files

7D Raw (CR2) are typically 21-28
mbytes in size and after conversion to TIF they become 30 mbytes (with
LZW compression) on disc and occupy 52 mbytes in ram. These are big numbers
and close to four times the size of the files from the 10D, 20D era cameras.
This will mean you need a fast computer or a lot of patience when moving,
storing or processing the.

CF cards

This camera can make use of UDMA
mode 6 cards for faster file writes and reads. This has a big advantage
when shooting action. The camera has a stated buffer size when shooting
RAW at low ISOs of fifteen but in fact the numbers I am seeing with the
fastest UDMA cards suggest 18 - 24 frames are possible before the camera
slows down some. This can be useful with a camera that shoots at 8 frames
per second. UDMA cards vary in speed. I use Sandisk Extreme IV, but
the Extreme III 30 mByte addition works well also and the newer Extreme
Pro 90 mBytes ones are even faster but expensive. 16 GBytes holds about
550 RAW images.

When Shooting JPGs there does not appear to be an upper
limit to the buffer with the UDMA cards.

If I was not shooting action I would purchase
much less expensive non UDMA cards but be aware that the UDMA cards
with the proper card reader will transfer files faster to your computer.

Highlight Tone Priority

Highlight tone priority increased
the "dynamic range" of an image by rolling off the highlights gradually.
ISO can only be set from ISO 200 to 6400 when active. The downside of HTP
is that it can increase shadow noise. I do not usually use this but
it may be useful for scenes of extreme dynamic range. It cannot be applied
after the fact with the RAW converter suggesting it is an in camera hardware
function.

Registering Camera User Settings
C1, C2 and C3

One of the features of the Canon
7D and some of the other prosumer EOS cameras often overlooked by photographers
is the ability to register (or preset) camera user settings. This is an
incredibly useful feature for nature photographers as it allows you to
quickly recall several camera functions at once from the exposure
command dial.

If you have been caught taking a
photo of a static object such as a plant or sleeping duck at low ISOs and
small apertures, often with mirror lockup and camera on tripod when
an Eagle suddenly flies over you will appreciate this feature!
It may be possible to whip the camera off of the tripod quickly but
the camera which was set to static mode shooting requires several changes
to get it into "action \ flight mode" and this would take tens of seconds
normally. With the camera registered user settings wholesale setup
changes are much faster!

My current settings

Updated Aug 26, 2010

Function

Action (C1)

Movie (C2)

Static (C3)

ISO

400

200

200

Exposure Mode

M manual

M manual

M manual

Shutter Speed

1/1600

1/60

1/250

Aperture (f-stop)

f5.6

f5.6

11

Mirror lockup

OFF

OFF

ON

Drive (frame rate or timer)

H (8 fps)

H (8 fps)

2 sec timer

Focus mode

AI Servo

one shot

one shot

White balance

AWB

AWB

AWB

Picture Styles

Standard

Gamma S *

Standard

* Gamma S is a custom curve I have added to make for a flatter
image that can be edited more easily

I have "registered" the C1 setting
to be my flight or action setting as it is easy to remember that
"one" is for action, while C2 is for Movies and C3 are for Macro\Static
shooting. The nice thing about the presets is that any and all functions
can be overridden. For example if there is heavy overcast and I use
C1 which I have preset to ISO 400 which is a sunny day setting and
may not give a correct exposure with the f-stop and shutter speed I choose
to use, I simply set the ISO to 800 or higher. ISO 800 will be retained
until C1 is deselected at which time it defaults to the 400 ISO setting.
The same goes for shutter speed and aperture which I often change to compensate
the exposure.

The only other important parameter that
cannot be set for flight shooting is the lens focus limiter, I always use
the far limit for flight. It would be very useful if Canon can make this
possible from the presets in the future.

Your own settings may be different than
mine depending on the type of photography you do.

Refer to page 223 in the EOS 7D manual
for instructions on registering the functions.

My Menu

The "My menu" menu is the right
most menu that shows on the rear LCD screen. This can be setup to show
your frequently used menu functions and each function is simply a copy
of the same function from the other ten menus. This can be a real time
saver as you do not have to search menus to find often used functions.
The only downside is that "My menu" only holds six functions.
pg. 222 in the manual explains how to set and sort these.

While testing the 7D with both
580 EXII flash and 430 EXII I noticed the manual flash X sync speed to
be 1\200 sec when High speed sync was selected and in ETTL it was 1\250
sec but with a distance scale anomaly. The manual states the X sync to
be 1\250 sec.

Here is the test with an external flash.

Flash in Manual mode and deselecting
hi speed sync - Setting the flash to 1\4 power and shooting a target
shows the same exposure (according to the histogram) whether 1\200 or 1\250
sec shutter speed is used as would be expected.

Manual flash mode and selecting hi speed
sync - Setting the flash to 1\4 power and shooting a target shows less
exposure by 2 stops (according to the histogram ) when shooting 1\250 sec
as compared to shooting 1\200 sec. This suggests less flash output do to
the use of high speed sync but this should not happen until 1\320!

Also the distance scale shows less distance
by 1\2 when setting the shutter speed from 1\200 sec to 1\250 second with
hi speed sync selected - which indicates the flash has switched to High
Speed sync at 1\200.

Flash in ETTL mode and selecting hi
speed sync - Testing the exposure
(histogram) for a full power pop (forced by shooting a distance target
at f22, ISO 160) indicates that High speed sync kicks in at 1\250 sec as
it should .... but the distance scale is reduced when going from 1\200 -
1\250 second when Hi Speed sync is selected!

It does not matter whether Hi Speed sync
is selected in the camera or from the back of the flash the result is the
same.

Both the 40D and the 50D do not show distance
scale changes when going from 1\200 to 1\250 second in Manual or ETTL mode
with Hi Speed sync selected and exposure tests indicate the exposure is
the same at both 1\200 and 1\250 sec as expected.

I have only tried this with my own camera
but I suspect it may be a firmware bug with others.

Frame rate anomaly

In high speed shooting with
the shutter manually set to 1/1000 sec and the lens in manual
focus mode (allows the fastest possible frame rate), lens cap on,
the maximum continuous frame rate was only around 4-5 fps. The manual
warns that the frame rate drops in low light, but I can see no logical
reason for this..

Movie mode

This is the first time I have
tried doing movies and so far I am happy with the results. I hope to have
a brief movie clip on my website shortly.

High definition movies are possible with
this camera. 1080P 24 or 30 fps, 720P 24, 30 or 60 fps 1 - Frame and Focus manually (auto focusing
can work while recording but is very slow)2 - Switch the Movie Record\Live view
switch to record.3 - Push the Start\Stop button to record
the movie. (A red dot will appear on the rear LCD screen when recording)

Aperture and Shutter dials are active and
can be used to control exposure as can ISO. Normally you would set the
exposure before recording begins using the Live View histogram but the
exposure can be altered while recording.

Be aware that unlike still images that
can be shot in RAW mode movies files compressed JPEGs and fixing exposure
in software after the fact will result in some loss of detail with no ability
to correct over exposure at all.

Be aware that movies will use a lot of
drive space and can be time consuming to edit. A fast computer is required.

I also note the built in microphone is
very sensitive and especially adept at picking up the sound from swearing
photographers!

Overall I find the autofocus
system is a major upgrade from previous pro sumer models in many
regards but one. The Spot AF mode which is supposed to reduce the
AF sensor point size to allow more precise focusing on small objects. I
had hoped this would be beneficial to me for helping pick off
small objects such as Warblers in shrubs where the surrounding branches
often fool the auto focus. I have repeatedly compared Spot AF
mode to Single Autofocus point mode on small horizontal or vertical
objects and I cannot find any difference whatsoever. If I find the
minimum sized object that the Spot AF point will just detect and then
switch to single point and offset the focus and try to refocus the
object I can see no difference whatsoever between the two modes
cabability. What prompted me to test this is that Canon had
stated that its Spot AF mode uses a smaller optical sensor array
therefore it will not work as well in very low light as the normal
sized AF point. Testing this in low indoor lighting with a subject that
the AF system has trouble with showed no difference between Spot and
normal modes in terms of reliably locking on the dim subject. It seems
to me that Spot mode is not activated, perhaps this is a software glitch or
was simply overlooked. I have tested this on three different 7Ds
manufactured months apart, they behaved the same. If anyone has a 7D
that shows a definite difference in response in Spot AF mode I
would like to hear about it and how it was tested. (my 7D
software was ver 1.2.1 when tested)

One
other peeve is how to quickly change the AF pattern. When a bird
is flying against a clear sky I use AF assist points but if
it drops to below the tree line it is necessary to quickly switch to
single point to avoid focusing on the trees.
To switch patterns It is necessary to push the M-Fn button after
pushing the AF pattern button first. It is difficult to feel the
M-Fn button without looking for it, it is very small and designed for
smaller fingers than mine. Why is the M-Fn button needed at all, simply
toggling the back AF pattern button as we did on earlier models
would do the job. The need to look or feel for the M-Fn button
takes precious seconds.

Update August 26 2010

I have stoped using the odd valued
ISO settings such as 320, 640 etc. in favor of the even values such as
200, 400, 800 etc. There is some evidence that Canon does not change
sensor gain until the even values and it is easier to recall sunny 16
rule or standard exposure values based on experience witht the even
ISOs.